Sunday, April 15, 2012

STALEMATE

But some five kilometers away, at the KL Hockey Stadium, a somber looking bunch of hockey players were in serious discussion with the national team manager George Koshy.

The deep look that they gave when pictures were taken was a clear reflection that the national hockey players were really aggrieved with the report submitted by their coach pertaining to the failure of the team to make it to the London Olympics.

While the players were shown, as was the media last Thursday, the presentation made by Tai Beng Hai to the MHC Council on April 10, they were however born presented with the full report,parts of which were revealed by this blog and a national English daily.

Not all the players who were in Dublin were there to listen to Koshy first hand as Faisal and Fitri Saari were with the national junior side while Baljit Singh was attending a wedding in Ipoh.

Also absent was Mohd Shukri Mutalib and Izwan Firdaus.

Some players who were called up to join the squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup but who were not in Dublin, Hafiz, Amir Farid, Azammi Adabi and Firhan Ashaari were present though.

" I explained to the players what had happened and showed that what was presented to council and media. However the full report was not provided to players , " said Koshy when met after the two hour session.

" Actually the team is supposed to report tomorrow but they have yet to be informed that they are to report to camp hence one should not read much into this.

" From the discussion, the feedback from the players is that they want to understand why all these things happened, the truth on what was written in media and also said at the press conference.

"I did provide explanation on some of the comments like on anger management - where in the matches against Ireland and Korea having players outside long period of time did not help our cause and that could have been what the coach meant.

" The players want to hear clarification from the coach and a session with the coaches will be arranged so as to enable both parties to clear any misunderstanding that could have arisen."

Koshy also said that in principle most of the players have accepted the explanation and have agreed to resume training after meeting with the coach.

However it was learnt that at least three senior players, minus Mohd Madzli Ikmar who announced his retirement, are contemplating withdrawing from the team from the time being as they felt short changed by the coach in his report.

The question now is will Beng Hai admit and stand by what he wrote in his report or resort to denying what was revealed in this blog and the national English daily?

This blog has been threatened with legal action and is VERY prepared to reveal the whole 26 pages of the report, especially the pages that speak about players individually.

It's best to own up and move on, for it takes a man to admit his faults and weaknesses.

Had the report gone through the proper procedures, then none of this would have happened.

But to issue a threat of legal action and call others liars, smacks arrogance.